March 16, 2007

Click here to view photos from day one of the NCAA Championships.

Click here to watch the winning 400 medley relay talk with Swimming World TV.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Northwestern relay stood at the top of the podium at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1932 Thursday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center, as the Wildcat quartet of Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest), Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) and Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/ V. Gymnazija) broke the NCAA record en route to winning the 400 medley relay title on day one of the Championships.

The Wildcats were the top seed heading into the finals, and they proved that ranking was no fluke. Grevers led off with a 45.83 back split to give the 'Cats the lead and they never looked back, breaking Texas's NCAA record time of 3:04.47 with their school-record time of 3:04.40. With the victory, the quartet of 'Cats won Northwestern its first relay championship since the 1932 Wildcat squad claimed the 400 free relay title.

"I feel like it has been a long time coming; ever since Mike and I's sophomore year," Grevers said. "We have been in the lead after the third leg before, but we just needed someone like Bruno to come in and finish us off. It's really a great feeling of accomplishment."

Stanford, the team that appeared to be Northwestern's closest competitor throughout the relay, was disqualified after the event finished because one of its swimmers left the blocks too early. After the disqualification, Texas was awarded second place with a time that was 1.29 seconds slower than the Wildcats' time.

The title gave the Wildcats their final 40 points of a very successful day one at the Championships. Northwestern is currently tied for fourth with Florida at 106 points and is only one point behind third-place Texas.

On a day filled with impressive swims by the Wildcats, one swim in particular almost matched the 400 medley relay. Already a two-time NCAA champion in the 100 back, Grevers provided the other highlight of the evening for the 'Cats by almost claiming his third individual NCAA championship in the 200 IM.

The Wildcat senior, who was seeded sixth heading into the final, swam the 200 IM of his life when it counted the most. The fastest fly and backstroke legs of the final propelled Grevers to the lead at the halfway point, but Arizona's Adam Ritter caught Grevers at the turn of the final leg and forced the Wildcat to settle for second place.

Grevers finished his swim in 1:41.96, nearly three seconds faster than his previous-best time of 1:44.95 that he swam in this afternoon's prelims. His time also makes him the fourth-fastest swimmer in the history of the event and added 17 points to the Wildcats' team score.

Swimming in the lane adjacent to Grevers, Alexandrov swam a time of 1:45.26 in the finals to earn a sixth-place finish -- the highest finish of his career in the 200 IM at the NCAA Championships. The senior's finish added 13 more points to the team score as the Wildcats earned 30 points from the 200 IM.

Before all of the dramatics, the Wildcats began the evening with a strong swim in the first event, the 200 free relay. Seeded fifth in the championship final, the quartet of Barbic, Grevers, Alexandrov and Bubolz broke the school record for the second time Thursday, swimming a time of 1:16.65 to finish fourth and earn 30 points toward the team score.

Two NCAA records fell during the swimming of the 200 free relay, as Auburn broke their own record for the relay (1:14.71) and their leadoff-leg swimmer, Cesar Cielo, broke the record for the 50 free (18.69).

Up next for the 'Cats was sophomore Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston), who added another point to the Wildcats' team score thanks to his 16th-place finish in the 500 free. The sophomore, who holds the Northwestern record in the event, finished his swim in the consolation final with a time of 4:21.66.

Between the 200 IM and 400 medley relay, Barbic jumped in the pool for the consolation final of the 50 free. The Wildcat junior, who finished 13th in the same event a year ago when he was swimming for Washington, moved up one spot this year as he earned a 12th-place finish and added five points to Northwestern's team score with his time of 19.73.

The Wildcats will return to the pool tomorrow for day two of the Championships. Preliminary heats will begin at 12 p.m. CT and the finals start at 7 p.m.

Real-time results for tomorrow's events can be found at NCAA Championships.